Folding canopy with central locking mechanism

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a folding canopy with central locking mechanism, including a central locking mechanism including a top disk, a lower disk and a lock lever. The lower disk includes a locking unit for engaging with the lock lever, and the locking unit includes a lock plate and an elastic member. The lock plate is provided therein with a locking hole, and the lock lever is used to penetrate the locking hole. The elastic member is used for tilting the locking hole in the lock plate to a hole-tilted position. When the locking hole is tilted to the hole-tilted position and a wall of the locking hole is in frictional contact with a side wall of the lock lever, the central locking mechanism completes locking.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority benefit of China application serialno. 201920978933.6, filed on Jun. 26, 2019, and China application serialno. 201910561755.1, filed on Jun. 26, 2019. The entirety of each of theabove-mentioned patent applications is hereby incorporated by referenceherein and made a part of this specification.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the technical field of folding canopy,in particular, to a folding canopy with central locking mechanism.

BACKGROUND

The alias of the folding tent is an advertising tent and an awning. Itcan be used for outdoor exhibitions and product promotion, celebrationevenings, exhibitions, tourism, leisure, field work, food stalls. It canalso be used for song and dance evenings and other temporary activities,as well as long-term leisure facilities in the park tourist resortscenic area. The folding tent can be unfolded when in use, can be foldedand shrunk when not in use, having the advantages of shielding sun andrain, and being convenient to carry, so as to be widely used in dailylife.

Folding tents are generally built from folding tent skeletons and tentfabrics. The locking buckles of existing folding tents are usuallylocated on their leg tubes, and fixing the surrounding leg tubes willopen and support the entire folding tent. However, when fixing the legtubes of the folding tent, it takes a lot of people to work together tolift the folding tent, and as the size of the tent grows larger, thenumber of people needed will gradually increase.

To this end, No. CN108026736A discloses a central lock comprising acentral rod, a central top cap fixed at one end of the central rod, anda central bottom cap detachably connected to the other end of thecentral rod. The central bottom cap houses a locking member movableradially back and forth along the central rod, and the locking member isprovided with a first through hole through which the central rod canpass. The end of the central rod is provided with a recess and alatching portion at a lower end of the recess. When the central lock isin a locked state, a portion of an inner wall of the first through holeon the locking member is engaged with the recess of the central rod, andan upper end surface of the latching portion abuts against a lower endsurface of the locking member. When the central lock is in an unlockedstate, the inner wall of the first through hole on the locking member isdisengaged from the recess, and the latching portion can pass throughthe first through hole.

The invention patent of Publication No. CN206888665U discloses adeployment fixture for folding tent and a folding tent. The deploymentfixture of the folding tent comprises a support rod, a base and atelescopic guide rod. One end of the support rod is hinged to a topskeleton rod of the folding tent, and the other end of the support rodis hinged to the base. One end of the guide rod is connected to a topconnecting seat of the folding tent, and the other end of the guide rodis connected to the base. One end of the top skeleton rod is hinged tothe top connecting base. The base and the guide rod are provided withlocking mechanisms that cooperates with each other, and the base and theguide rod are locked by the locking mechanism when the folding tent isdeployed and fixed. The locking mechanism includes an engaging portdisposed on a sidewall of the guide rod, and the base is provided with abutton. The button is provided with a tongue for engaging with theengaging port, and the button is connected with an elastic member forapplying an elastic force to the button to insert the tongue into theengaging port.

In above structure, whether it employs the engaging cooperation betweenthe recess and lock or the abutting cooperation between the tongue andthe engaging port, it is fixed by engagement; the unlocking is realizedby detachment through engagement, and the locking cooperation isessentially realized by a structure of an engaging block and a notch.Therefore, the locking must be realized by providing a notch on the locklever. However, for this kind of design of recess structure, the lockingof the engaging piece and the notch usually does not achieve aclearance-free fit, causing the locking mechanism in the central lock tohave a certain gap during the cooperation process, so that the locklever usually shakes, which affects the use effect, thereby affectingthe stability of the entire folding canopy. In addition, the latchstructure of the above structure is designed such that the lockingposition of the lock lever is fixed, so that the limitless lockingfunction cannot be realized.

SUMMARY

The purpose of the present invention is to a folding canopy with centrallocking mechanism for solving the above technical problem, which doesnot need a design of recess, may realize locking without gap, and hasthe characteristics of strong locking stability, simple structure andlimitless locking.

The technical problem solved by the present invention may be implementedby the following technical solutions:

A folding canopy with central locking mechanism, comprising a centrallocking mechanism including a top disk, a lower disk and a lock lever,the lower disk including a locking unit for engaging with the locklever, characterized in that the locking unit includes a lock plate andan elastic member; the lock plate is provided therein with a lockinghole, and the lock lever is used to penetrate the locking hole; theelastic member is used for tilting the locking hole in the lock plate toa hole-tilted position; and when the locking hole is tilted to thehole-tilted position and a wall of the locking hole is in frictionalcontact with a side wall of the lock lever, the central lockingmechanism completes locking.

The lock plate includes a button portion, a lock plate body, and alinkage portion; the button portion is wholly or partially locatedoutside the lower disk, and the locking hole is located on the lockplate body; one end of the elastic member is used for abutting againstthe lock plate body, and the other end is cooperatively mounted to thelower disk; the linkage portion is used for cooperatively mounting withthe lower disk.

When the lock plate is not subjected to an external force, the lockplate body is abutted by the elastic member and is in a tilted state.

When the locking unit is in an unlocked state, the locking hole iscentered close to or overlaps a central axis of the lock lever; when thelocking unit is in a locked state, the locking hole is centered awayfrom the central axis of the lock lever.

The lower disk further includes a first lower disk unit and a secondlower disk unit; the first lower disk unit and the second lower diskunit are combined and assembled to form a mounting cavity and a buttonwindow; the mounting cavity is used for mounting to cooperate with thelocking unit, and the button portion is located at the button window andextends to the outside; the button portion may be pulled up and down atthe button window.

The button portion may drive the lock plate body to move in the mountingcavity.

The first lower disk unit is provided with a lock lever guiding hole,and the lock lever guiding hole is provided with a trumpet-shapedguiding hole wall, the lock lever being used for penetrating the locklever guiding hole and extending downward.

The second lower disk unit is provided with a linkage groove and amounting seat, the linkage groove is used for cooperatively mountingwith the linkage portion, and the mounting seat is used forcooperatively mounting with the elastic member.

The second lower disk unit is provided therein with a lock lever seat,and the lock lever seat is used for accommodating an end of the locklever.

The second lower disk unit is provided a pull ring at the bottom.

Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the followingoutstanding advantages and effects: the present invention adopts thedesign of the slotless lock lever structure, and utilizes the tilting ofthe lock plate to drive the locking hole to tilt to a hole-tiltedposition, so that the lock lever can be in frictional contact with thehole-tilted position, and the limitless locking can be realized bychanging the force relationship between the lock lever and the lockinghole; the structure has the characteristics of convenient operation,simple structure and stable locking.

The features of the present invention can be clearly understood from thedescription of the drawings and the detailed description of thepreferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the overall structure of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing the overall exploded structure of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a structural view showing the installation of the lower diskand the locking unit of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a structural view of the lock plate the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a structural view of the second lower disk unit of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 is a structural view showing the locking state of the lock leverwith the locking unit of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a structural view showing the unlocking state of the locklever with the locking unit of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is one structural view showing the forcing of the lock lever withthe locking unit of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is another structural view showing the forcing of the lock leverwith the locking unit of the present invention.

Wherein: 1, top disk; 2, lock lever; 3, lower disk; 31, first lower diskunit; 311, lock lever guiding hole; 32, second lower disk unit; 321,mounting seat; 322, lock lever seat; 323, linkage groove; 324, pullring; 33, mounting cavity; 34, button window; 4, locking unit; 41, lockplate; 411, button portion; 412, lock plate body; 413, linkage portion;414, locking hole; and 42, elastic member.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

In order to make the technical means, creative features, achievementgoals and effects achieved by the present invention easy to understand,the present invention will be further described below in conjunctionwith specific illustrations.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 9, the present embodiment discloses a foldingcanopy with central locking mechanism comprising a central lockingmechanism, the central locking mechanism including a top disk 1, a lowerdisk 3 and a lock lever 2, the lower disk 3 including a locking unit 4,the locking unit 4 being used for cooperating with the lock lever 2. Bymeans of the locking or unlocking of the locking unit 3 with the locklever 2, it is possible to achieve the deployment or folding storage ofthe folding canopy.

Among which, a preferred structure of the locking unit 4 in the presentembodiment is: the locking unit 4 includes a lock plate 41 and anelastic member 42. The lock plate 41 is provided therein with a lockinghole 414, and the lock lever 2 is used to penetrate the locking hole414. The elastic member 42 is used to cause the movement of the lockplate 41 for driving the locking hole 414 to tilt to a hole-tiltedposition. When the locking hole 414 is tilted to the hole-tiltedposition and a wall of the locking hole 414 is in frictional contactwith a side wall of the lock lever 2, the central locking mechanismcompletes locking.

Preferably, in the present embodiment, when the lock plate 41 is notsubjected to an external force, the lock plate body 412 is abutted bythe elastic member 42 and is in a tilted state.

Preferably, when the locking unit 4 is in an unlocked state, the lockinghole 414 is centered close to or overlaps a central axis of the locklever 2, and when the locking unit 4 is in a locked state, the lockinghole 414 is centered away from the central axis of the lock lever 2,wherein the central axis of the lock lever 2 contains its extension lineportion.

Among which, the elastic member 42 preferably adopts a spring member,preferably a compression spring member. The elastic member 42 aims atallowing the lock plate 41 to be in a tilted state, so the elasticmember 42 may also adopt other products having equivalent functions.

Further, in the present embodiment, the lock plate 41 includes a buttonportion 411, a lock plate body 412, and a linkage portion 413. Thebutton portion 411 is wholly or partially located outside the lower disk3, and the locking hole 414 is located on the lock plate body 412. Oneend of the elastic member 42 is used for abutting against the lock platebody 412, and the other end is cooperatively mounted to the lower disk3. The linkage portion 413 is used for cooperatively mounting with thelower disk 3. The structure of the locking hole 414 is optimized, sothat an upper opening thereof preferably adopts a trumpet-like structureto facilitate the penetration of the locking lever 2.

Among which, the button portion 411, the lock plate body 412 and thelinkage portion 413 in the lock plate 41 may be an integral structureusually made of sheet metal stamping or an assembly structure designthat may fitted with a metal ring at the locking hole with remainingparts injection-molded by plastic material, and the linkage portion maybe a design of a hinged shaft structure.

In above description, the button portion 411 is generally partiallyexposed outside the lower disk 3, and the button portion 411 extendsinwardly from the outside. The button portion 411 and the lock platebody 412 are usually connected by a connecting plate of an uprightstructure, usually a “Z” structure, wherein the bending part is a designof a right angle structure. The linkage portion 413 is located at thetail of the lock plate body 412, and the button portion 411 and thelinkage portion 413 are respectively a head and a tail of the lock plate41. The button portion 411 may move the lock plate body 412 in themounting cavity 33 in a lifting manner.

Among which, the lower disk 3 may be divided into a first lower diskunit 31 and a second lower disk unit 32, so as to facilitate combinationand mounting of the lock unit 4 with the lower disk 3. The first lowerdisk unit 31 and the second lower disk unit 32 are combined andassembled to form a mounting cavity 33 and a button window 34. Themounting cavity 33 is used for mounting to cooperate with the lockingunit 4, and the button portion 411 is located at the button window 34and extends to the outside. The button portion 411 may be pulled up anddown at the button window 34.

Further, in the present embodiment, the first lower disk unit 31 isprovided with a lock lever guiding hole 311, the lock lever guiding hole311 is provided with a trumpet-shaped guiding hole wall, and the locklever 41 is used to penetrate the lock lever guiding hole 311 andextends downward. The center of the lock lever guiding hole 311 overlapswith the central axis of the lock lever 2, the lock lever guiding hole311 is located above the locking hole 414, and at least a portion of thecavity in the locking hole 414 is located directly below the lock leverguiding hole 311.

Preferably, one of the embodiments of the mounting structure of thelocking unit 4 with the lower disk 3 is: the second lower disk unit 32is provided with a linkage groove 323 and a mounting seat 321, thelinkage groove 323 is used for cooperatively mounting with the linkageportion 413, and the mounting seat 321 is used for cooperativelymounting with the elastic member 42, wherein the mounting seat 321 ispreferably a spring seat for facilitating the fixed cooperation betweenthe bottom of the elastic member 42 and the mounting seat 321 whilemaintaining the deformable amount of the elastic member 42, and themaximum level of the mounting seat 321 shall not be higher than theheight when the lock plate 41 is in the unlocked state. The lock plate41 being in the unlocked state is the state where the wall of thelocking hole 414 is detached from the wall of the lock lever 2, whichmay be preferably realized by making the lock plate body 412 in ahorizontal state. Of course, the above horizontal state is not anabsolute horizontal state, as long as the wall of the locking hole 414is detached from the wall of the lock lever 2. In this structure, thelinkage portion 413 and the linkage groove 323 may be designed into ahinged structure, or may be a directly movable engagement structure. Thelinkage 413 aims at providing the lock plate 41 with a rotatable pivotpoint, usually a force point C, which is combined and cooperated withthe button portion 411 to tilt the lock plate body 412 for driving thelocking hole 414 to tilt in the position.

Preferably, the material of the lock lever 2 is usually selected fromaluminum alloy, steel pipe, plastic steel, existing modified plastic,etc. In order to improve the locking stability and service life of thelock lever 2 and the locking hole 414, the material of the side wall ofthe locking hole 414 is usually selected from aluminum alloy, steelpipe, plastic steel, existing modified plastic, etc.

Another embodiment of the mounting structure of the locking unit 4 andthe lower disk 3 is: both the linkage groove and the mounting seat maybe located on the first lower disk unit 31 and designed as an invertedstructure. The mounting structure of the elastic member 42 with the lockplate 41 is similar to that described above.

Preferably, the second lower disk unit 32 is provided therein with alock lever seat 322, and the lock lever seat 322 is used foraccommodating an end of the lock lever 2. The lock lever 2 may bedivided into a telescopic lock lever and a non-retractable lock lever,wherein the telescopic lock lever may adopt the structure of Patent No.CN206888665U in the background art, and the non-retractable lock leveris a single lever structure, such as the structure of Patent No.CN108026736A. The end of the telescopic lock lever may not be detachedfrom the lower disk, and the end of the telescopic lock lever may belocated at the lower part of the first lower disk unit 31 and may beextended and contracted relative to the first lower disk unit 31. Thenon-retractable lock lever may usually be detached from the lower disk3. If the lock lever 2 is a non-retractable lock lever, the end thereofis generally designed as a hemispherical head structure for facilitatingpenetration through the lock lever guiding hole 311 and the locking hole414.

Preferably, the second lower disk unit 32 is provided a pull ring 324 atthe bottom for facilitating operation.

The operation process of the present invention is: The lock lever 2 ispreferably a non-retractable lock lever. When the folding canopy is in afolded state, the folding canopy is opened, and the user lifts the lowerdisk 3 upwards. The lower disk 3 is gradually raised to the bottom endof the lock lever, and the lock lever 2 may be automatically guided bythe lock lever guiding hole 311 to penetrate into the interior of thelower disk 3. Then, since a portion of the cavity of the locking hole414 is located directly under the cavity of the locking lever guidinghole 311, the lock lever 2 may directly penetrate into the cavity of thelocking hole 414 and sliding friction may occur between the side wall ofthe lock lever 2 and the wall of the locking hole 414, so that the lockplate 41 may be shifted downward with the upward thrust of the lowerdisk 3, causing the locking hole 414 to be always in a penetration stateuntil the lock lever 2 is embedded in the lock lever seat 322. Ifunlocking is required, the lock lever 2 has to be disengaged from thelocking hole 414, so the lock lever 2 is inevitably required to moveupward or the lower disk 3 is moved downward, causing the side wall ofthe lock lever 2 to be in conflict with the wall of the locking hole414, which gives a resistance to the lock plate 41, then, the lock plate41 is always tilted due to the hole-tilted position relationship and thecavity wall relationship of the mounting cavity 33 inside the lower disk3. Therefore, if there is no external force to interfere, the lock lever2 may not move with the locking hole 414, thereby achieving forcedlock-up, and therefore, the lock plate body 412 is driven to change thetilting angle and further the hole-tilted position of the locking hole414 is driven to change by the interference of the button portion 411,pressing down the button portion 411, so that the lock lever 2 may bedisengaged from the locking hole 414 to achieve detachment.

Another embodiment is: If the lock lever 2 is a telescopic lock leverstructure, the size of the end of the lock lever 2 is larger than theminimum diameter of the lock lever guiding hole 311, and maytelescopically penetrate through the locking hole 414. When in thefolded state, the end of the lock lever 2 is located above the lockinghole 414 and cooperates with the first lower disk unit 31. Whenunlocking is required, the lock lever 2 is shortened until it isshortened to a minimum unit, then the bottom end of the lock lever 2penetrates through the locking hole 414, so that the locking orunlocking may be completed correspondingly by utilizing the frictionalcontact between the locking hole 414 and the lock lever 2, incombination with changing the related force relationship, referring tothe locking principle for the non-retractable lock lever.

As shown in FIGS. 6 to 9, the locking principle of the present inventionis: After the lock lever 2 penetrates into the locking hole 414 andcompletes the locking, an external force is required to be applied tothe button portion 411 for unlocking if unlocking is required, and thelocking force state of the locking hole 414 and the lock lever 2 in thelock plate body 412 may be referred to FIG. 8 if the button portion 411is not subjected to external force. The lock plate 41 is equivalent to alever. When the lower disk 3 is pulled down, since the locking hole 414is tilted in the structure, two contact ends are formed between the wallof the locking hole 414 and the side wall of the lock lever 2, which maybe divided into A and B. If unlocking is required, the lower disk 3 isinevitably required to be pulled down, so pulling-down of the lower disk3 will form a downward force F1 on the lock plate 41, the force point ofF1 is the connection part of the lock plate 41 and the lower disk 3, andis usually the mounting part C of the linkage portion 413 and the lowerdisk 3, thus two resistances F2 and F3 are bound to be formed at the twocontact ends and the frictional force generated between the two maycause the locking hole 414 to complete the locking action on the locklever 2. Through the force analysis of the lock plate body 412 withcombination of the lock lever 2, if the locking hole 414 is always inthe titled state, that is, there is frictional contact with the locklever 2, the frictional contact has a certain static friction betweenthe two. When the pulling force F1 required for unlocking is larger, theresistance formed by F2 and F3 is also larger, because the power arm ofF1 is much larger than the resistance arms of F2 and F3. Therefore,unless the tilting state of the locking hole 414 is released such thatthe frictional interference between the locking hole 414 and the locklever 2 is removed, the unlocking may be achieved. On the contrary, thegreater the pulling force of the lower disk 3 for downward unlocking,the stronger the locking of the locking hole 414 with the lock lever 2is.

As shown in FIG. 9, when the lower disk 3 is at the upward thrust F0,there is no downward pulling force F1 due to the contact of the lockinghole 414 with the lock lever 2, thus two forces F2 and F3 at the contactend assist the locking hole to tend to reduce the tilting angle, thedirections of the force of the two forces F2 and F3 are changed by theaction of the thrust F0, and there is no force or detachment at the Aand B ends, then the direction of the force is advantageous to enlargethe overlapping cavity area of the locking hole 414 and the lock lever2, so as to facilitate insertion of the lock lever 2 into the lockinghole 414.

The present invention adopts the design of the slotless lock leverstructure, and utilizes the tilting of the lock plate to drive thelocking hole to tilt to a hole-tilted position, so that the lock levercan be in frictional contact with the hole-tilted position, and thelimitless locking can be realized by changing the force relationshipbetween the lock lever and the locking hole. The structure has thecharacteristics of convenient operation, simple structure and stablelocking.

It is apparent from the technical knowledge that the present inventioncan be implemented by other embodiments without departing from thespirit or essential characteristics thereof. Therefore, theabove-disclosed embodiments are merely illustrative and not exclusive inall respects. All changes which are within the scope of the presentinvention or equivalent to the scope of the present invention areencompassed by the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A folding canopy with central locking mechanism,comprising a central locking mechanism; wherein the central lockingmechanism has a top disk, a lower disk and a lock lever; the lower diskhas a locking unit; the locking unit is configured for engaging with thelock lever; the locking unit has a lock plate and an elastic member; thelock plate is provided therein with a locking hole, and the lock leveris configured to penetrate the locking hole; the elastic member isconfigured for tilting the locking hole in the lock plate to ahole-tilted position; when the locking hole is tilted to the hole-tiltedposition and a wall of the locking hole is in frictional contact with aside wall of the lock lever, the central locking mechanism completeslocking; and the elastic member is extended in a direction parallel to acentral axis of the lock lever.
 2. The folding canopy with centrallocking mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the lock plate has abutton portion, a lock plate body, and a linkage portion; the buttonportion is wholly or partially located outside the lower disk, and thelocking hole is located on the lock plate body; one end of the elasticmember is configured for abutting against the lock plate body, and theother end of the elastic member is cooperatively mounted to the lowerdisk; and the linkage portion is configured for cooperatively mountingwith the lower disk.
 3. The folding canopy with central lockingmechanism according to claim 2, wherein when the lock plate is notsubjected to an external force, the lock plate body is abutted by theelastic member and is in a tilted state.
 4. The folding canopy withcentral locking mechanism according to claim 3, wherein when the lockingunit is in an unlocked state, the locking hole is centered close to oroverlaps the central axis of the lock lever; and when the locking unitis in a locked state, the locking hole is centered away from the centralaxis of the lock lever.
 5. The folding canopy with central lockingmechanism according to claim 3, wherein the lower disk further has afirst lower disk unit and a second lower disk unit; the first lower diskunit and the second lower disk unit are combined and assembled to form amounting cavity and a button window; the mounting cavity is configuredfor mounting to cooperate with the locking unit, and the button portionis located at the button window and extends to outside of the lowerdisk; and the button portion is capable of being pulled up and down atthe button window.
 6. The folding canopy with central locking mechanismaccording to claim 2, wherein the lower disk further has a first lowerdisk unit and a second lower disk unit; the first lower disk unit andthe second lower disk unit are combined and assembled to form a mountingcavity and a button window; the mounting cavity is configured formounting to cooperate with the locking unit, and the button portion islocated at the button window and extends to outside of the lower disk;and the button portion is capable of being pulled up and down at thebutton window.
 7. The folding canopy with central locking mechanismaccording to claim 6, wherein the button portion is capable of drivingthe lock plate body to move in the mounting cavity.
 8. The foldingcanopy with central locking mechanism according to claim 6, wherein thefirst lower disk unit is provided with a lock lever guiding hole, andthe lock lever guiding hole is provided with a trumpet-shaped guidinghole wall; and the lock lever is configured for penetrating the locklever guiding hole and extending downward.
 9. The folding canopy withcentral locking mechanism according to claim 6, wherein the second lowerdisk unit is provided with a linkage groove and a mounting seat, thelinkage groove is configured for cooperatively mounting with the linkageportion, and the mounting seat is configured for cooperatively mountingwith the elastic member.
 10. The folding canopy with central lockingmechanism according to claim 6, wherein the second lower disk unit isprovided therein with a lock lever seat; and the lock lever seat isconfigured for accommodating an end of the lock lever.
 11. The foldingcanopy with central locking mechanism according to claim 6, wherein thesecond lower disk unit is provided a pull ring at bottom of the secondlower disk unit.
 12. The folding canopy with central locking mechanismaccording to claim 2, wherein when the locking unit is in an unlockedstate, the locking hole is centered close to or overlaps the centralaxis of the lock lever; and when the locking unit is in a locked state,the locking hole is centered away from the central axis of the locklever.
 13. The folding canopy with central locking mechanism accordingto claim 1, wherein when the locking unit is in an unlocked state, thelocking hole is centered close to or overlaps the central axis of thelock lever; and when the locking unit is in a locked state, the lockinghole is centered away from the central axis of the lock lever.